Alphabet of Songs

[ggreig]

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

huskyteer has given me the letter "R".

1. Roll Over Beethoven – Electric Light Orchestra [Spotify] [YouTube]
   A cover version trumping the original artist (sorry, Chuck – tough choice, and you get all the credit for inspiration). ELO’s version is pretty much the definitive one.
2. Reward – The Teardrop Explodes [Spotify] [YouTube]
   How can you go wrong with lyrics that start Bless my cotton socks, I'm in the news! ? Add an insistent drum beat, a jeepful of brass and Julian Cope’s clear voice and this has nothing to apologise for thirty years later on.
3. Room Full Of Mirrors – The Pretenders [Spotify] [YouTube]
   Originally by Jimi Hendrix, of course, but to be honest Hendrix has never done it for me. Jimi’s chaos may be a better expression of a state of mind, but The Pretenders’ version has more drive and edge.  Anyway, I heard this version first, so naturally it’s better!
4. Revolution, Revolutions – Jean Michel Jarre [YouTube]
   Bit of a Middle-Eastern vibe going on, nice change of tempo if you listen to the album version, economic use of a vocoder, electronics all over the shop. Brilliant. Always a bit disappointing that the 1988 London Docklands concert in the YouTube video wasn't in Glasgow instead. Initially Jean Michel Jarre was pretty much told to get on his bike when he first explored staging a concert in London, due to Newham Council's concerns about crowd safety. It being the year that Glasgow was European City of Culture, they saw an opportunity and opened negotiations to hold the concert there instead. Unfortunately someone down south realised how badly they'd shot themselves in the foot, and they recanted.
5. Run, Rabbit, Run! – Harry Bidgood [YouTube]
   Flanagan and Allen's perfectly competent version seems to be more widely available, but I can picture Harry Bidgood as a nice old chap telling his story, whereas Flanagan and Allen just slightly tip over the edge into being showbiz.

This is probably cheating, but “bubbling under” in alphabetical order:

• Rabbit - Chas & Dave
• Radar Love - Golden Earring
• Radio Wall of Sound – Slade
• Ragtime Dance - Scott Joplin
• Rasputin - Boney M
• Rat Trap - Boomtown Rats
• Reasons to be Cheerful (Pt 3) - Ian Dury and the Blockheads
• Rebel Run – Toyah
• Rebel Yell - Billy Idol
• Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
• Remember You’re A Womble – The Wombles
• Riding the Waves - Afro Celt Sound System
• Ring Ring – ABBA
• Rio - Duran Duran
• Riu Chiu - The Monkees
• River of Hope - Big Country
• Rock In This Pocket (Song of David) - Suzanne Vega
• Rock Lobster - The B-52s
• Rock 'N' Roll Is King – ELO
• Rockin' All Over The World - Status Quo
• Rubber Bullets – 10cc
• Run Runaway – Slade
• Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden
• Running Wild - Roxy Music
• Rupert Bear - Toy Dolls

These were all under consideration, but I picked the five main ones just because they were the ones that gave me most pleasure. Out of the also-rans, if you think you know what The Monkees and Big Country sound like, it might be worth checking out their respective tracks as neither of them are typical. I don’t guarantee you’ll like them, but if you don’t already know them they may not be what you expect.

Comments

[very-true-thing.livejournal.com]

Reasons to be Cheerful (part 3) should have been in the top 5!

Will listen to some of these tomorrow. A few I don't know and many I haven't heard in far too long.

Go on, gimme a letter please.

[ggreig]

Er... computer says Z... but I think we'll prefer its second choice of W, unless you really fancy a challenge!

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

Ah g'won. Hit me with your music stick!

[ggreig]

You p-p-pick up a P.

[sharikkamur.livejournal.com]

With a modicum of trepidation, I'll volunteer for a letter.

[ggreig]

Your letter is J.

[very-true-thing.livejournal.com]

Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie
Zerox by Adam Ant

Um...

I think I may go with W

[ggreig]

A wise choice, sir, if I may say so :-)

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

You gave me P:

1) Paint it Black: Rolling Stones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9DDpmyPZZA) or Hayseed Dixie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21cd0pXZEJo )

2) Peaches: Stranglers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF3P4AAaVIg)

3) Paranoid: Black Sabbath (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_6jagv_D4)

4) Perfect Gentleman: Wyclef Jean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Jjxy7kRns)

5) Poison: Alice Cooper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5b8hqT1klE) or Hayseed Dixie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPutbENepXQ)

Missing the cut:
Proud to be Canadian: Arrogant Worms
Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin: Amateur Transplants
Perfect Day: Lou Reed/Various Artists
Pinball Wizard: The Who/The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Pour some Sugar on Me: Def Leopard
The Psychic: Crash Test Dummies
The Prince: Madness
Pride (in the name of Love): U2
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park: Tom Lehrer
Point Game: Must be Tuesday
Prodigal Daughter (Cotton Eyed Joe): Michelle Shocked
Pitbroch (Fire at Midnight): Jethro Tull

[myceliumme.livejournal.com]

Brucey-come-lately begs a letter

[ggreig]

Rather like very_true_thing, you get a genuinely random letter - Q - and a fallback from the remaining 25: F.

[myceliumme.livejournal.com]

A bit of a challenge! Here's three ‘Q’s:
The Queen is Dead (The Smiths)
The title track from my favourite Smiths album. Signature Marr-swirls over moderate rock-beat, while Morrisey tells us that ‘when you're tied to your mother's apon, no-one talks about castration’

Queen of the Highway (The Doors)
Not the best track on Morrison Hotel but dark and moody enough to be going on with

Quilteyes (Field of Cows)
Field of Cows is my immediate manager's nom de musique. This track is from a CD called Digital Watchman and features mysterious guitar sounds and melodica over a trance background. Rather cool, if you like that sort of thing.

And my top two ‘F’s of the moment:

Feel Good Hit Of The Summer (Queens Of The Stone Age)
This is the first time I've seen the video. It's a bit rude.

The Final Cut (Pink Floyd)
The title track of the last ‘real*’ (in my opinion) Pink Floyd album - the album that brought Pink Floyd to my teenage attention.